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Hazel — the story-led behavioural essay

Hazel — the story-led behavioural essay

A blog-writing style skill that makes an AI agent write in the story-led behavioural essay voice of Morgan Housel: a true, specific story from another field told first and at length, a one-line pivot that turns it toward the reader, then a lesson about how people actually behave with money, risk, patience or customers, stated plainly and hedged honestly. Two shapes: one story and one lesson, or several short sections that each pair a story with a lesson. It works on any business topic. The skill gives a fingerprint table, a seven-step build, sentence rules, strict truth rules that require every story to be sourced or the user's own, a worked opening and a revision pass. It reproduces the moves, never the writer's sentences.

In the voice of Morgan Housel

Updated 3 October 2026 · By Sadeq

When to use it

Write a blog post in Hazel's voice: the story-led behavioural essay. Open with a true story from history or real life, let it run several paragraphs before the point appears, pivot with a question, then draw a lesson about how people actually behave — money, risk, patience, customers — with honest hedges and a warm, unhurried tone. Short sections, often several small lessons each opened by its own story. Use when someone asks for a post "in Hazel's style", a storytelling post, a reflective piece about decisions or human behaviour in business, or a post meant to be shared rather than skimmed. Works for any business topic. Do not use it for tutorials, product news, or anything that needs steps; and do not use it when no true story is available — the voice depends on real ones.

Complete file

SKILL.md

---
name: hazel
description: >
  Write a blog post in Hazel's voice: the story-led behavioural essay.
  Open with a true story from history or real life, let it run several
  paragraphs before the point appears, pivot with a question, then draw a
  lesson about how people actually behave — money, risk, patience,
  customers — with honest hedges and a warm, unhurried tone. Short
  sections, often several small lessons each opened by its own story. Use
  when someone asks for a post "in Hazel's style", a storytelling post,
  a reflective piece about decisions or human behaviour in business, or a
  post meant to be shared rather than skimmed. Works for any business
  topic. Do not use it for tutorials, product news, or anything that
  needs steps; and do not use it when no true story is available — the
  voice depends on real ones.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: daena-digital
  version: "1.0"
  collection: blog-style-voices
---

# Hazel — the story-led behavioural essay

Hazel teaches through stories. A post opens somewhere unexpected — an
18th-century household, a hospital bed, a parking lot — and only after
the reader is inside the story does it turn to the business lesson. The
lesson is always about people: why they decide the way they do, and what
that means for the reader's own choices.

Studied from Morgan Housel's essays for Collaborative Fund, the blog
behind *The Psychology of Money*. This skill reproduces his *moves*,
never his sentences, stories or titles.

## When to pick Hazel over another voice

- The topic is really about behaviour: why customers stay, why owners
  overspend, why teams avoid a decision.
- There is a true story that shows the point better than an argument.
- The post should be warm and shareable, not urgent.

Pick Ezra (the plain essay) when the point must be argued against
objections. Pick Wren (the ultra-short post) when the idea fits in 200
words. Pick neither of those — and not Hazel — for steps or tutorials.

## The fingerprint

| Trait | Hazel does | Hazel never does |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 900–1,400 words | Under 600 (no room for the story) or over 2,000 |
| Opening | A true, specific story: a person, a date, a place. 2–4 paragraphs before the lesson | Opens with the thesis, a statistic, or "In this post" |
| Pivot | A question or a flat line that turns the story toward the reader: *"What would they make of us?"* | "This story teaches us that…" |
| Lesson | About human behaviour, stated plainly, then complicated a little | A list of tips or tactics |
| Structure | Either one story and one lesson, or 4–8 short numbered or unnumbered sections, each a story then a lesson | Deep heading hierarchies, bold callouts, tables |
| Sentences | Mostly 12–18 words; a 3–5 word sentence after a story beat for weight | Long technical sentences, jargon |
| Person | "I" often — *I think, I've noticed* — plus "we" for shared human habits | The corporate "we" |
| Hedges | Many and sincere: *I suspect, probably, it seems, perhaps* | Certainty about the future |
| Others' words | One or two short quotes from real, named people, introduced casually | Quote stacks; unattributed "as they say" |
| Numbers | Few, specific, vivid (a price, a year, an age) — never a chart's worth | Statistics as proof of the argument |
| Ending | A gentle reframe or a wider view: what the story means for how the reader lives or runs the business | A call to action, a summary, a pitch |

## How to build the post

1. **Find the behaviour.** Name the human habit the post is about, in
   one sentence: *"Owners judge a marketing channel by its worst month,
   not its average."* If it's a tactic rather than a behaviour, this is
   the wrong voice.

2. **Find a true story that shows it.** History, a well-documented
   business episode, or a story the user supplies from their own work.
   Look for a story from a different field than the reader's — a
   doctor's story for a retailer, a sailor's story for a SaaS founder.
   The distance is what makes it memorable. **Verify it** (see below).

3. **Tell the story first, straight.** Names, a year, a place, one
   concrete detail. Let it run two to four paragraphs. Do not hint at the
   lesson yet.

4. **Pivot.** One short line or a question that turns from *them* to
   *us*. This is the hinge of the post.

5. **State the lesson plainly, then complicate it.** Say what the story
   shows about people. Then admit where it doesn't hold, or why it's
   harder than it sounds. That honesty is the voice.

6. **For the multi-lesson shape:** repeat steps 2–5 four to eight times
   under short section titles, each a full sentence of the lesson
   (*"Patience looks like doing nothing"*). Keep each section 100–250
   words.

7. **Close wide.** End on a reframe — how the reader might see their
   situation differently — or on one short, fitting quote from a real
   person. No call to action.

## Sentence-level rules

- **Story sentences are concrete.** *"In 1881 a president lay dying for
  eleven weeks"* — not *"historically, medicine was limited"*.
- **Short sentence after the beat.** When a story lands, follow it with
  three to six words. *"That was normal."*
- **Hedge sincerely, not nervously.** One hedge per claim about the
  future or about other people's minds; none on things you can check.
- **Plain words.** The ideas carry the weight; the vocabulary stays
  simple.
- **"I" is allowed, but the writer is never the hero.** First person
  shows the writer thinking, not succeeding.

## Truth rules — stricter than the other voices

This voice runs on stories, so it is the easiest to fake. Do not.

- **Every story is true and checkable.** Use a story only if you can
  name a source for it — a book, a reputable article, an archive — or
  the user told it to you about their own business. Give the source in
  the draft notes for the editor; link it in the post where natural.
- **If you are not sure a detail is right, cut the detail**, not the
  hedge. Never round a story into a better story.
- **No invented customers, clients, conversations or numbers.** A
  hypothetical must announce itself: *"Imagine a café owner who…"*
- **Quotes must be real and attributed to the person who said them.**
  If you can't confirm the wording, paraphrase and say so.
- **No borrowed material** — no sentences, stories in his telling, or
  titles from the writer this voice was studied from.

## A short illustration

The opening of a post for a small landscaping company, written in this
voice. Every detail in it is documented in the expedition's published
histories, and a real post would link one:

> In January 1915, Ernest Shackleton's ship froze into the ice of the
> Weddell Sea. For ten months the crew could do almost nothing. No
> sailing, no rescue, no news. They played football on the ice. They
> kept the routines of a ship that was going nowhere.
>
> They all survived.
>
> I think about that when spring bookings are slow and everyone wants
> to do *something*. Run a sale. Change the logo. Call every past
> customer twice.
>
> What did the crew know that we forget every quiet season?

Note what it does: a specific story from a distant field, the point
held back, a four-word sentence after the beat, then a pivot in the
first person and a question that turns it toward the reader.

## Revision pass

1. Does the post open inside a story, with a name, a date or a place, in
   the first sentence?
2. Is every story and quote sourced — and listed for the editor?
3. Is there a clear pivot line from the story to the reader?
4. Is the lesson about how people behave, and is it complicated at least
   once?
5. Count the hedges. One per uncertain claim; none on checked facts.
6. Does it end on a wider view, with no pitch and no summary?

Knowledge base

What we read to learn Morgan Housel’s voice

Long-Term MoneyA historical story told at length before any lesson appears
A Few Things I'm Pretty Sure AboutThe many-short-sections shape: one story, one lesson, repeated
The Psychology of MoneyThe original long essay: numbered behavioural lessons, each opened by a story
Different Kinds of SmartPlain claim, then honest hedge; warm tone, no call to action
How People ThinkShort lessons about behaviour, each stated then qualified